Method and apparatus for supporting image processing, and computer-readable recording medium for executing the method

ABSTRACT

A support for image processing is provided, comprising: (a) detecting respective face regions from images consecutively photographed for a first person at predetermined time intervals by an image pickup unit to display images of the face regions detected in relation to the first person in a first region of a screen, and providing a user interface for indicating that a specific face image is selected from the face images of the first person displayed in the first region; (b) additionally displaying the specific face image through a second region adjacent to the first region; and (c) displaying a synthesized image using the specific face image as a representative face of the first person, when the specific face image displayed through the second region is selected.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for supportingimage processing and a computer-readable recording medium for executingthe method, according to which pictures are taken a number of times atpredetermined time intervals, face images are extracted from thephotographed pictures, an array of the images are displayed in auser-friendly manner such that a user may easily select a face imagedesired by the user, and other user interfaces are appropriatelyprovided.

BACKGROUND ART

Portable terminals are made smaller and lighter over time, graduallyimproving their portability and convenience and increasing the customerdemands. Subsequently, functionalities added to portable terminals havediversified.

Particularly, as portable terminals equipped with photographing devices,including digital devices dedicated to capturing images, such as digitalcameras, digital camcorders, and the like, have been in wide use inrecent years, the number of users creating digital data such as digitalpictures or moving images are in an increasing trend. Among others, acamera embedded in a portable terminal is remarkably advanced inperformance and widely used in substitution for a digital camera.

Particularly, since pictures can be easily edited and synthesized on theportable terminal as compared to a digital camera, the portable terminalis widely used for the purpose of editing or synthesizing photographedpictures, in addition to simply taking pictures.

For example, a method of editing an image using a portable terminal isdisclosed in Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2007-0006337published on Jan. 11, 2007, entitled “Method of editing images in aportable terminal.” It is confirmed that the method pertains to atechnique of selecting three regions using positions of the eyes and themouth on an image photographed using a portable terminal and selecting atype of facial expression for each of the regions, thereby acquiring apicture with a different facial expression.

However, such a method of editing or synthesizing a picture using aportable terminal according to the prior art has a problem in that thefacial expression is artificially created by directly modifying aphotographed picture and thus is unnatural, and the user needs to edit apicture using an inconvenient user interface and thus needs to put in alot of effort.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

In some embodiments, an object of the present disclosure lies in solvingall the problems described above.

In some embodiments, another object of the present disclosure is toprovide a user-friendly interface capable of extracting face images fromconsecutively photographed pictures and to select and edit a face imagedesired by a user with ease.

In some embodiments, a further object of the present disclosure is toprovide a user-friendly interface so that a user may intuitively andeasily find a desired image in editing the images as described above.

In some embodiments, a still further object of the present disclosurelies in automatically creating the most desirable synthesized imageaccording to pre-stored conditions.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure for achieving theaforementioned objects is as described below.

According to some aspects of the present disclosure, there is provided amethod for supporting image processing, comprising: (a) detectingrespective face regions from images consecutively photographed for afirst person at predetermined time intervals by an image pickup unit todisplay images of the face regions detected in relation to the firstperson in a first region of a screen, and providing a user interface forindicating that a specific face image is selected from the face imagesof the first person displayed in the first region; (b) additionallydisplaying the specific face image through a second region adjacent tothe first region; and (c) displaying a synthesized image using thespecific face image as a representative face of the first person, whenthe specific face image displayed through the second region is selected.

According to some aspects of the present disclosure, there is providedan apparatus for supporting image processing, comprising: a display unitconfigured to detect respective face regions from images consecutivelyphotographed for a first person at predetermined time intervals by animage pickup unit, display images of the face regions detected inrelation to the first person in a first region of a screen, provide auser interface indicating that a specific face image is selected fromthe face images of the first person displayed in the first region, andadditionally display the specific face image through a second regionadjacent to the first region; and an image synthesizing unit configuredto display a synthesized image using the specific face image as arepresentative face of the first person, when the specific face imagedisplayed through the second region is selected.

In addition, there is further provided a computer-readable recordingmedium for recording a computer program for executing other methods andapparatuses and the aforementioned methods for implementing variousaspects of the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure may provide a user-friendlyinterface in order to extract face images from pictures consecutivelyphotographed at predetermined time intervals and further easily edit aface image desired by a user.

In addition, it is possible to automatically create an image optimallysynthesized from respective face images of various people according to apredetermined condition.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an image processing support apparatus, according tosome embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates an editing unit, according to some embodiments.

FIGS. 3a and 3b illustrate initial operation screens of an imageprocessing support apparatus, according to some embodiments.

FIGS. 4a and 4b illustrate pictures showing actually implemented initialoperation screens of an image processing support apparatus, according tosome embodiments.

FIGS. 5a to 5c illustrate an input image selection screen of an imageprocessing support apparatus, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a picture showing an actually implemented input imageselection screen when the best mode is selected, according to someembodiments.

FIGS. 7a to 7c illustrate a face image selection screen of an imageprocessing support apparatus, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a picture showing an actually implemented face image selectionscreen, according to some embodiments.

FIGS. 9a to 9l illustrate an image synthesizing sequence, according tosome embodiments.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

In the following detailed description of the present disclosure,references are made to the accompanying drawings that show, by way ofillustration, specific embodiments in which various embodiments of thepresent disclosure may be implemented. These embodiments are describedin sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to implement thepresent disclosure. It should be understood that various embodiments ofthe present disclosure, although different, are not necessarily mutuallyexclusive. For example, specific feature, structure, and characteristicdescribed herein, in connection with one embodiment, may be implementedwithin other embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe present disclosure. In addition, it should be understood that thelocation or arrangement of individual elements within each disclosedembodiment may be modified without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present disclosure. The following detailed description is,therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of thepresent disclosure is defined only by the appended claims, appropriatelyinterpreted, along with the full range equivalent to what the claimsclaim. In the drawings, like reference numbers refer to the same orsimilar function through many ways.

Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present disclosure will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in orderto easily implement the present disclosure by those skilled in the art.

Configuration of Entire Apparatus

FIG. 1 illustrates an image processing support apparatus, according tosome embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 1, an image processing support apparatus 1 may includean image pickup unit 100, a face detection unit 110, a facial expressionrecognition unit 120, an editing unit 130, a display unit 140, adatabase 150 and a control unit 160.

Here, the image processing support apparatus 1 of FIG. 1 is a digitaldevice, and any portable digital device provided with a memory means andequipped with a microprocessor and thus having operation capability,such as a personal computer (e.g., a tablet computer, a notebookcomputer or the like), a PDA, a web pad, a cellular phone or the like,can be adopted as the image processing support apparatus 1 in anydegree.

The image pickup unit 100 may be formed of any image pickup device, forexample, it may be a digital camera that creates digital image signalsusing a CCD. The image pickup unit 100 may be configured to have animage pickup device implementing an automatic focusing (AF) function anda continuous photographing function.

The automatic focusing function is a function of an optical system (acamera) for automatically focusing on a specific object (a subject),which can be generally divided into an active system and a passivesystem. The active system focuses a camera by radiating ultrasonic wavesor infrared rays in order to measure a distance, and the passive systemfocuses a camera using rays naturally reflected from an object. Theautomatic focusing function may adopt any known method.

The continuous photographing function may also adopt a variety ofmethods. For example, a photographing function may be implemented so asto set the number of images that are photographed consecutively atpredetermined time intervals by the image pickup unit 100.

The face detection unit 110 may be configured to detect a face region ina photographed image using a face detection (FD) technique when a faceis contained in the image photographed by the image pickup unit 100. Anyone of a variety of techniques can be used as the FD technique. Forexample, detection may be performed using feature patterns learned andselected by an AdaBoost learning algorithm. The applicant of the presentdisclosure has already filed Korean Patent Application No.10-2011-011460 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Detecting Face, andComputer-Readable Recording Medium for Executing the Method,” whichrelates to a method and apparatus for detecting a face from an image,may be combined with the present disclosure, and is hereby incorporatedby reference. The face detection unit 110 may detect faces from aplurality of respective images consecutively photographed, and images ofthe detected faces can be stored in the database 150.

The facial expression recognition unit 120 is configured to recognize anexpression of a face detected by the face detection unit 110.Specifically, the facial expression recognition unit 120 may beconfigured to determine whether a face shown in an image is smiling,blinking eyes, or expressionless using FD (Face Detection), SD (SmileDetection) and/or BD (Blink Detection) techniques. Any one of varioustechniques can be used as the FD, SD and/or BD techniques. For example,a facial expression recognition operation may be performed by obtainingcoordinate values of feature patterns from the face image detected bythe face detection unit 110 and referring to the range of the respectivecoordinate values of the feature patterns. For example, the applicant ofthe present disclosure has already filed Korean Patent Application No.10-2011-0105548 entitled “Method and apparatus for recognizing a face,and computer-readable recording medium for executing the method,” whichrelates to a method and apparatus for recognizing a facial expression inan image, may be combined with the present disclosure, and is herebyincorporated by reference. The facial expression recognition unit 120may acquire a facial expression icon corresponding to the facialexpression recognized as described above from the database, and thefacial expression icon may also be output when the face image is outputthrough the display unit 140.

The editing unit 130 provides an editing function of selecting a baseimage that will be used as a background image among the imagesconsecutively photographed by the image pickup unit 100 and a face imagethat will be synthesized with the corresponding base image. In addition,the editing unit 130 may create a synthesized image by synthesizing thebase image and the face image. The editing unit 130 will be describedbelow in more detail with reference to FIG. 2.

The display unit 140 may be configured to output the image photographedby the image pickup unit 100 and the image edited and synthesized by theediting unit 130. Any one of various display means such as, but notlimited to, an LCD, a PDP, an LED and the like, may be applied as thedisplay unit 140. Since the image processing support apparatus 1described below with reference to FIGS. 3 to 9 can be implemented toinput a command using a touch screen, in this case, the display unit 140can be provided with a touch screen function.

The database 150 may store the images photographed by the image pickupunit 100 and the face images detected by the face detection unit 110. Inaddition, the database 150 may store the synthesized images in which theface images and the base images are synthesized.

The control unit 160 may be configured to control data flow between theimage pickup unit 100, the face detection unit 110, the facialexpression recognition unit 120, the editing unit 130, the display unit140 and the database 150. That is, the control unit 160 controls theflow of data to/from the outside or between the respectiveconstitutional components of the image processing support apparatus 1,so that the image pickup unit 100, the face detection unit 110, thefacial expression recognition unit 120, the editing unit 130, thedisplay unit 140 and the database 150 may perform their respectiveunique functions.

FIG. 2 illustrates an editing unit, according to some embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 2, the editing unit 130 may include a base imageselection unit 131, a face image selection unit 132 and an imagesynthesizing unit 133.

The base image selection unit 131 may be configured to provide anediting environment for selecting a base image that will be used as abackground image from the images consecutively photographed by the imagepickup unit 100. In other words, a user may select a user-preferred baseimage from the photographed images output through the display unit 140,and if a base image is selected, the editing unit 130 temporarily storesthe selected base image and uses the base image in creating asynthesized image, which will be described later.

The face image selection unit 132 provides an editing environment foroutputting the face images detected by the face detection unit 110 fromthe photographed images so that a user may select a face image. The usermay select a user-preferred face image among the output face images, andif a face image is selected, the editing unit 130 temporarily stores theselected face image and uses the face image for image synthesisdescribed below.

In some embodiments, the selection of the base image and the face imagemay sequentially proceed, and when the user selects a base image andthen selects a face region (see reference numeral 340 of FIG. 5c thatwill be described later) in the base image, the process may proceed tothe step of selecting a face image. Of course, the selection steps mayproceed not sequentially but independently. This will be described belowin more detail with reference to FIGS. 7a to 7 c.

The image synthesizing unit 133 performs a function of synthesizing theface image selected in the face image selection unit 132 with the baseimage selected in the base image selection unit 131. As described above,among the images consecutively photographed at predetermined timeintervals as a candidate group, the images containing a background andfacial expression are selected by a user based on his/her preference andthen the selected images are synthesized, so that an image that issatisfactory to the user in terms of the background and the personillustrated in the image can be provided. Although a procedure forselecting the user-preferred background as a base image is describedherein by way of an example, the present disclosure is not necessarilylimited thereto, but it is apparent that a user-preferred shot may alsobe allowed to be selected having a person shown in the image after anarbitrary base image is selected by default under the assumption thatthere is little difference in the background of the images. Hereinafter,a user interface (UI) for specific implementation of the presentdisclosure will be described with reference to the following figures.

FIGS. 3a and 3b illustrate initial operation screens of an imageprocessing support apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

Among the figures, FIG. 3a illustrates an embodiment of a screen 200that appears when a user executes an application of the image processingsupport apparatus of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 3a , when the user executes an application of theimage processing support apparatus, the screen 200 is provided throughthe display unit 140 of the image processing support apparatus, and anoption button 210, a shooting button 220 and a gallery button 230 may beprovided on the right side of the screen 200 in order.

An image of a face on which an image pickup device focuses may bedisplayed on the screen 200 when the face is photographed using theimage pickup unit 100 (photographing mode), or a photographed image maybe displayed on the screen 200 after the photographing is finished(image output mode). The photographing mode may be implemented not togenerate any change although the user may make a selection on the screen200.

The option button 210 is a button for calling up a shooting option menuwindow 240. The option menu window 240 will be described below in moredetail with reference to FIG. 3b . The option menu window 240 may beclosed when the user selects the option button 210 once more in a statewhere the option menu window 240 is called up by the selection of theoption menu 210.

The shooting button 220 is a button selected when the user focuses theimage processing support apparatus and takes a picture. When the userselects the shooting button 220, the image processing support apparatusis automatically focused on a subject, and a plurality of pictures canbe taken at predetermined time intervals. For example, when the shootingbutton 220 is selected, pictures may be taken five consecutive times.The number of shootings can be diversely modified depending on theselection of the user.

The gallery button 230 is a button for switching the screen 200 to agallery provided in the image processing support apparatus. The gallerymay output a series of images photographed most recently through theimage processing support apparatus as a set of images in the form of athumbnail.

FIG. 3b illustrates a screen with the option menu window 240 that iscalled by a user selecting the option button 210 on the screen 200.

Referring to FIG. 3b , a Mode selection button 241 and a Size selectionbutton 242 may be provided as the option menu. A Normal mode and a Bestmode may be selected as the Mode using the Mode selection button 241.The Normal mode is a mode in which only consecutively photographedimages are output as a candidate group of selection when the images aresynthesized. The Best mode is a mode in which an image having apredetermined facial expression is automatically synthesized by applyingthe FD, SD and/or BD techniques based on the images consecutivelyphotographed by the image processing support apparatus being output,together with the consecutively photographed images, as a candidategroup. The Best mode will be described below in more detail withreference to FIG. 5 c.

The Size selection button 242 is a menu for setting a size of a pictureto be photographed. In one embodiment, it may be implemented to outputdefault values of VGA (Video Graphics Array), 1M, 2M, 3M and 5M as aselection menu. FIGS. 4a and 4b are pictures showing actuallyimplemented initial operation screens of an image processing supportapparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure describedabove.

FIGS. 5a to 5c illustrate an input image selection screen of an imageprocessing support apparatus according some embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 5a , when a person is consecutively photographed bythe image pickup unit 100, a photographed image may be displayed on thescreen 200 through the display unit 140. At this point, a back button310 may be displayed on the left upper side of the output image, andbase image indicators 320 may be displayed at the lower portion of thescreen. In addition, a save button 330 may be displayed on the rightside of the base image indicators 320.

The back button 310 is a button for switching to the shooting mode.Accordingly, when a user resumes photographing after the user hasstopped taking pictures, the image output mode can be switched to theshooting mode by selecting the back button 310. In addition to the backbutton310, the user may also switch the image output mode to theshooting mode by selecting a back button 310 that is implemented inhardware on the image processing support apparatus.

The base image indicators 320 show a sequential position of the imagecurrently displayed on the screen 200 among the consecutivelyphotographed images. In one embodiment, the base image indicators 320may be displayed as many small points as the number of photographedimages at the lower portion of the screen 200. The consecutivelyphotographed images may be matched to the base image indicators 320 inone-to-one correspondence, and when a matched image is output on thescreen 200, the color of corresponding one of the base image indicators320 may be changed to be distinguished from the other base imageindicators 320. The base image indicators 320 can be implemented to bedisplayed on the screen 200 at all times or implemented to be displayedonly when a user scrolls the screen 200. Alternatively, the base imageindicators 320 can be implemented to be output only when the userselects a region other than the face region of an image output on thescreen 200.

The save button 330 performs a function of saving the image output onthe screen 200 into the gallery.

FIG. 5b illustrates a method of searching the consecutively photographedimages. Referring to FIG. 5b , since the base image indicators 320 andthe photographed images are matched in a one-to-one correspondence, auser may output a desired photographed image on the screen 200 byselecting one of the base image indicators 320 matching to the desiredimage. Alternatively, the user may search for a user-preferredphotographed image by sequentially switching the output image byscrolling the screen 200 left and right. At this point, the user maygrasp a relative position of the photographed image currently displayedon the screen 200 using the base image indicators 320.

FIG. 5c shows an example of a base image selection screen displayed whenthe Best mode is selected. Referring to FIG. 5c , when the imageprocessing support apparatus operates in the Best mode, a best imagesynthesized using the consecutively photographed images may beadditionally provided in a base image candidate group, in addition theconsecutively photographed images. In other words, when the imageprocessing support apparatus operates in the Best mode, ‘the number ofphotographed images +1’ may be the number of images in the base imagecandidate group in the base image selection step.

The best image may be an image optimized by combining the photographedimages using the FD, SD and/or BD techniques. The conditions forselecting the best image may be set before taking a picture. Forexample, when an image of a smiling expression of a person is preset asa condition of the best image, the best image can be created bysynthesizing a smiling face image with a base image. Such a best imageis particularly very useful when several people take pictures together.When three people take pictures as shown in FIG. 5c , a best imageperfectly meeting the condition set by the user can be created bydetecting an image of a smiling face for each person from thephotographed images and automatically synthesizing the detected faceimage with the base image.

Base image indicators 320 of different shapes may be used in order todistinguish the best image from the other photographed images. Forexample, in FIG. 5c , a star-shaped base image indicator 320 may be anindicator matching to the best image. Accordingly, when a user desiresto select the best image from the base image selection screen, the usermay select the star-shaped base image indicator 320 or search for thebest image by scrolling the screen 200. However, for the convenience ofsearch, the best image may be output as a base image on the base imageselection screen.

A rectangle drawn around the face of a person may be indicated, whichmeans a detected face region 340. More specifically, when a face of aperson is detected by applying the FD technique to the photographedimage, the face region 340 is indicated in the shape of a box at thedetected area. When the user selects the face region 340, the selectionof a base image is finished, and the process proceeds to the face imageselection step.

FIG. 6 is a picture showing an actually implemented input imageselection screen when the best mode is selected according to someembodiments.

FIGS. 7a to 7c are views showing a face image selection screen of animage processing support apparatus according to some embodiments.

When a user selects a face region 340 from the photographed image outputon the screen 200 in the base image selection step, the base imageselection step is finished, and the process proceeds to the face imageselection step. The screen configuration of the face image selectionstep will be described with reference to FIG. 7a . First, a plurality offace images that may be a target of selection may be simultaneouslydisplayed at the lower portion of the screen 200 in the form ofthumbnails. This is defined as a face image candidate group 410, and thearea on the screen displaying the face image candidate group 410 isdefined as a first region. A face image selected in a face imageselection window 420 among the face image candidate group 410 can beenlarged and output in a face image enlargement window 430 displayed atthe center of the screen 200. An area on the screen displaying the faceimage enlargement window 430 is defined as a second region. If there isa user-preferred face image in the face image candidate group 410, theuser may adjust the face image to be positioned in the face imageselection window 420 and select the face image by clicking the imageenlargement window 430. A method of positioning a favorite face imageamong the face image candidate group 410 in the face image selectionwindow 420 will be described below in more detail with reference to FIG.7 b.

Face image indicators 440 may be displayed at the lower portion insidethe face image enlargement window 430. Like the base image indicators320, the face image indicators 440 can be displayed as many small pointsas the number of face images. The face images may be matched to the faceimage indicators 440 in one-to-one correspondence, and when a matchedface image is output in the image enlargement window 430, the color ofcorresponding one of the face image indicators 440 may be changed to bedistinguished from the other face image indicators 440.

In addition, a facial expression icon 450 may be output around the faceimage enlargement window 430. The facial expression icon 450 may befiguration of a facial expression formed by analyzing a selected faceimage using the FD, SD and/or BD techniques. Further specifically, thefacial expression icon 450 may be a figuration of an expressionlessface, a smiling face, blinking eyes or the like. Accordingly, since theuser may recognize an expression of a face image matching to the facialexpression icon 450 by only seeing the facial expression icon 450, theuser may search for a desired face image easily. If the favorite faceimage positioned in the face image selection window 420 among the faceimage candidate group 410 is changed, the position in which the facialexpression icon 450 is displayed is also changed. That is, if the faceimage displayed in the face image selection window 420 is changed, theposition in which the facial expression icon 450 is displayed on thecircumference of the face image enlargement window 430 is changed. Forexample, it is possible to move the facial expression icon 450 aroundthe face image enlargement window 430 by an angle calculated by dividingthe circumference of the face image enlargement window 430 with thenumber of images in the base image candidate group. That is, theposition at which the facial expression icon 450 is displayed may bedetermined in accordance with the order of a specific face imagedisplayed through the second region among all face images of the firstperson on the circumference around the second region.

FIG. 7b is a view illustrating a method of selecting a face image fromthe face image candidate group 410. Referring to FIG. 7b , a user mayscroll the face image candidate group 410 output in the form ofthumbnails left and right and may select a desired face image byadjusting the desired face image to be positioned in the face imageselection window 420 fixed in the middle of the face image candidategroup 410 through the scroll. That is, if a specific face image of thefirst person is displayed through the second region, the specific faceimage of all the face images of the first person displayed in the firstregion can be displayed in highlight.

In some embodiments, when the face image candidate group 410 isscrolled, the scroll may be indefinitely repeated by rolling the faceimage candidate group 410. Another method of selecting a face image isto output a face image desired by the user in the face image enlargementwindow 430 by directly selecting one of the face image indicators 440.Since the images of the face image candidate group are simultaneouslyoutput in the form of thumbnails, the user may intuitively recognizerelative positions of the respective face images, and thus, the desiredface image may be selected by directly selecting the face imageindicator 440.

The facial expression icon 450 may be output to rotate around the faceimage enlargement window 430 by a predetermined angle whenever a faceimage is selected through the face image selection window 420. Forexample, when a user consecutively takes five pictures, the face imagecandidate group may have five face images captured from the fivepictures. When the five pictures of the face image candidate group arescrolled, the facial expression icon 450 may be output while revolvingaround the face image enlargement window 430 by an angle of 72 degrees.As described above, the facial expression icon 450 is displayedrevolving around the face image enlargement window 430 by apredetermined angle, so that a currently selected face image can berecognized by only seeing the relative position of the facial expressionicon 450. As a result, the relative position of the facial expressionicon 450 operates as another kind of indicator.

FIG. 7c illustrates a method of creating a synthesized image by finallyselecting a face image. Referring to FIG. 7c , if a desired face imageis selected through the face image selection window 420, the face imageto be synthesized is finally selected by clicking the face imageenlargement window 430. If the face image is selected, a synthesizedimage can be created by synthesizing the face image with a previouslyselected base image.

When several people take a picture together, a face region 340 of eachperson is selected in the face image selection step and then the faceimage synthesis described above with reference to FIGS. 7a to 7c can beperformed.

FIG. 8 is a picture showing an actually implemented face image selectionscreen according to some embodiments.

FIGS. 9a to 9l illustrate an image synthesizing sequence according tosome embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 9a , a user may operate the image processing supportapparatus of the present disclosure and set a mode and size by selectingthe option button 210. Referring to FIG. 9b , when the option menuwindow 240 is output, either the Normal mode or the Best mode may beselected from the option menu window 240, and any one of sizes includingVGA, 1M, 2M and 3M may be selected. In the example shown in FIG. 9b ,the Best mode and 3M are selected. Referring to FIG. 9c , the user mayconsecutively take pictures as many as a predetermined number of timesby selecting the shooting button 220. If it is assumed that thepredetermined number is five, referring to FIG. 9d , five consecutiveshots will be taken at predetermined time intervals. Referring to FIG.9e , total six images including the five consecutively photographedimages and the best image created by operating in the Best mode can beoutput as a base image candidate group. Referring to FIG. 9f , any oneof the images in the base image candidate group may be selected as abase image by scrolling the screen 200 or using the base imageindicators 320. Referring to FIG. 9g , when the base image is selected,the process proceeds to the face image selection step by selecting aface region 340 in the selected base image. Since two persons arephotographed in FIG. 9, face images can be selected sequentially foreach person. Next, referring to FIG. 9h , one of the five face images inthe face image candidate group 410 can be selected. To this end, theface image candidate group 410 can be scrolled or one of the face imageindicators 440 may be directly selected, which is as described above.Referring to FIG. 9i , if a favorite face image is selected, the faceimage to be synthesized may be finally selected by selecting the faceimage enlargement window 430. Referring to FIG. 9j , if the face imageis selected, a synthesized image, in which the face image is synthesizedwith the previously selected base image, can be created. Referring toFIG. 9k , the user may save the synthesized image by selecting the savebutton 330. Finally, referring to FIG. 9l , if the user desires to takepictures again, the user may select the back button to return to theshooting mode.

The embodiments according to the present disclosure described above canbe implemented in the form of program commands that can be executedthrough various computer components and recorded in a computer-readablerecording medium. The computer-readable recording medium may include aprogram command, a data file, a data structure and the like solely or ina combined manner. The program command recorded in the computer-readablerecording medium may be a program command specially designed andconfigured for one or more embodiments of the present disclosure or aprogram command of the computer software field. The computer-readablerecording medium includes, for example, a magnetic medium, such as ahard disk, a floppy disk and a magnetic tape, an optical recordingmedium, such as a CD-ROM and a DVD, a magneto-optical medium, such as afloptical disk, and a hardware device specially configured to store andexecute program commands, such as a ROM, a RAM, a flash memory and thelike. The program command includes, for example, a high-level languagecode that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or thelike, as well as a machine code generated by a compiler. The hardwaredevices can be configured to operate as one or more software orfunctional modules in order to perform the processing according to thepresent disclosure, and vice versa.

In the foregoing discussion, although the various embodiments of thepresent disclosure have been described in connection with the specificmatters, such as the specific components, the various embodiments, andthe drawings, they are provided only for assisting in the entireunderstanding of the present disclosure, and the present disclosure isnot limited to the embodiments. It will be apparent that those skilledin the art can make various modifications and changes thereto from thesedescriptions.

Therefore, the spirit of the present disclosure should not be limited tothe aforementioned embodiments, and the appended claims and what aremodified equally or equivalently thereto will be considered to fallwithin the scopes of the present disclosure.

1. A method for supporting image processing, comprising: (a) detecting respective face regions from images consecutively photographed for a first person at predetermined time intervals by an image pickup unit to display images of the face regions detected in relation to the first person in a first region of a screen, and providing a user interface for indicating that a specific face image is selected from the face images of the first person displayed in the first region; (b) additionally displaying the specific face image through a second region adjacent to the first region; and (c) displaying a synthesized image using the specific face image as a representative face of the first person, when the specific face image displayed through the second region is selected. 2-33. (canceled) 